How to Start a Vlog: The Definitive Guide 2018

INTRODUCTION

There are many reasons to start a vlog. Maybe you’re ​someone that wants to entertain people, or you’re just a creative person that has something to say. Or maybe you own a business and are looking to expand to video since you’ve heard that’s the future of content marketing. No matter the reason, here you will learn absolutely everything ​on how to start a vlog channel that can fulfill your needs.

Who is this guide for?

This guide can be used by almost anyone looking to create video content to share mainly on YouTube. It is for:

1

Independent individuals that want to start a video blog series

2

Business owners that want to use video to increase their brand awareness and conversions.

What are you going to learn?

How to start a vlog channel from scratch by following a plan with clear directions.

All the knowledge you need to grow your channel steadily since the beginning.

What exactly is a Vlog?

The word is just a shorter way of saying video blog.

It’s similar to a blog post, but they come in video format. This makes vlogs easier to keep up with for most people.

The word has been used through the years mostly to identify videos that document someone’s daily life or an activity they do. But the truth is that a vlog can also be any video you publish around a subject (be it a critique, a list, a review, etc).

Popular myths for starting a vlog in 2018

YouTube has one billion users. That’s ⅓ of the internet. Yeah, YouTube is not dying any time soon. Did we also mention that there are more than one billion hours watched each day?

Myth #2 There’s too much competition

While there are one billion YouTube users, which means that’s one billion potential subs for your channel, there are only around 15,000,000 active YouTube channels (estimate). That means that for every 15 active channels, there are a 1,000 users watching. There is still a lot of opportunities to get views and subs. Besides, one user can sub and watch multiple channels, so it’s not like a YouTuber can claim a part of those users. You have potential access ​to that humongous amount of users.

CHAPTER 1

​PREPARATION AND PLANNING

There are some things you need to know ​—and have​— before you can start your own vlog. This is, of course, if you want to lay down strong foundations for your vlogging channel. This will also help you know what to expect from YouTube. Knowing this will help you think about what audience you want to reach, and with that, the tone you want to use in your videos.

​Know Your Potential ​Audience

Knowing what you want to do will help you get the right tone for your potential audience.

For example,

If you’re a business that has mainly 40+ years-old clients with their own businesses, you probably want a more serious and professional tone and look for your channel. After all, it can help them trust in the quality of the services you provide.

On the other hand, if you just want to express yourself and your personality, you can just go as natural and casual as you usually are.

Think about it: you’d need to record at least a 1000 videos around the same subject without burning out.

Watch other vloggers with related audiences

After you got your list of things you love done, it’s time to open YouTube and start finding vloggers that are already talking about them.

Try to analyze them and ask yourself what you is it that you can offer that they aren’t.

What are they missing out?

Would you be able to record a video about the same subject and give something they didn’t give to their audience? That’s the only way of knowing that your vlogs will provide more value than the competition.

YouTube is pretty crowded with creators that aren’t really helpful or entertaining. All vloggers that happen to make it are offering something somewhat unique and with good value.

Still, there is...

No need to reinvent the wheel

Don’t misunderstand me, even though you have to give something unique, it doesn’t mean you have to create something completely new.

You don’t have to invent a new form of entertainment that is beyond the mind and understanding of our modern world!

Not at all.

How to be unique without reinventing the wheel:

It is as simple as bringing something you didn’t see in other YouTubers that vlog about your subject.

After all, nowadays almost everything has been invented or tried out before. You simply need that slight touch of originality.

You can explore YouTubers and find one that does a style of video that you think you’d enjoy doing too.

You can do the same thing, but you could give it a personal touch, and just that can make it unique.

A good way of finding a way of giving something unique is by being extremely specific with your videos. This is what I call the Target the Geek Method, which I will explain later on.

Building a brand will also help you stand out from the crowd.

But don’t worry, we will get there in just a moment.

Learn howYouTube works

In the case you want to start out on YouTube, you should learn how it works---you should do the same with any other platform you want to use. And they are not too different from each other.

You shouldn’t see YouTube as a simple platform where random people upload their videos and hope for the best for people to watch it.

No, my friend. That is not how it works at all.

​First, YouTube is basically a search engine for videos. It just happens to be that the videos are also uploaded to the same platform.

In other words, YouTube is basically Google for video content.

First, you go to the search bar and type in a keyword.

The search engine shows you what it thinks would be the best answer for your query, in order of importance.

The YouTube algorithm is what decides what videos to show and in what order.

Like with any other search engine, there are good practices you can apply to help your videos be favored by the algorithm and rank for more keywords to get more views.

But you will hear about them in just a moment.

Even though nobody really knows exactly how the algorithm works.There are some people dedicated to figure out what works and what doesn’t, but only few of them will tell you truly helpful things.

​Be aware of the so-called YouTube Experts

I know I just told you that you should learn how YouTube works.

HOWEVER, be aware that nobody can be 100% certain that a method works.

You will find hundreds of so-called YouTube experts that will want to teach you how to grow your channel and all the steps you need to take to make it.

The fact that they have thousands of subs doesn’t mean they know what works and what doesn’t.

See, YouTube is a search engine that is constantly changing its algorithm, probably on a daily basis.

And if something works today, it might not work as well tomorrow.

You will see hundreds of experts repeating the same thing, but that’s just because they heard the last one say it, or at least it’s something that used to work before.

This happens a lot, and not only on YouTube.

A good example is that a lot of them will tell you to publish 3 videos a week at least, but it’s not necessarily true.

There are many people that have managed to grow their channel recently by recording fewer videos, but with the right approach and higher quality.

An example is iDubbbzTV. He publish one video per month, but each video has an enormous impact and his subs can’t wait for the next one to come out.

And his channel has been like that since the beginning.

He has one video series called Content Cop that gets a new episode once or twice a year, but the impact is huge.

The last one has already more than 32 million views.

The series is so good and rare that it builds a lot of intrigue and people can’t help but watch it.

Posting less often can increase the importance and impact of a video. One high-quality video can outshine---and more importantly, outperform---10 low-quality ones. But bear in mind that it works better when you already have a good amount of people following you.

Still most successful channels have around 80% of their views coming from 20% of their videos. This just says that more videos doesn’t necessarily mean more views.

That simply tells you that you should aim to make good content; content that people love watching either because it’s helpful or entertaining.

Listen​​​​​​​​​​ to people that are really committed to knowing how YouTube works.

There are some dedicated people out there that have done a lot of tests by comparing successful channels and finding common things they share.

Most of them make a living by investigating, researching and testing Youtube SEO. And they give this information for free. Brian Dean from Backlinko is a good example.

You have to listen to people like this. They will usually give you evidence on why a method works. You can learn really interesting and useful tips from them.

For example, after analyzing 1.3 million of videos, Backlinko team found out that the average video that appears on the first page of the results is 15 minutes long.

This is the type of information you will want to pay attention to when learning how the business and technical side of video blogging works.

​How to write titles that attract clicks:

Put the main keyword in the beginning of the video. E.g. If your video is about Egypt history, you could write the following title: “Egypt History - 5 Advanced Technologies Egyptians Invented”

'How to' titles and questions also get more clicks. E.g. “How to grow a sesame plant”, “What is the best router?”

I’m sure you're beginning to understand why we see so many titles like these:

This reminds me of something... I’m sure that you’ve heard about clickbait.

This is a problem that is making YouTube annoy a lot of people.

Writing a fake title just to attract click is a common practice between an infamous group of YouTubers.

Sadly, it works for them, but that​'s probably because YouTube show their videos to way many people for them to care. They​'re already pretty established channels.

I’m one of those that believe that avoiding clickbait is the best to create a faithful fanbase that believes in what you say​. ​They will take you more seriously if you don't deceive them constantly.

Personally, it would make me feel better about myself.

You can still practice creating some tension and try to turn on people’s curiosity, but do not lie to them. People don’t like to be deceived.

But you can decide for yourself. What do you want to be known for?

Designattractive thumbnails

Attractive thumbnails will attract more clicks. It is that simple.

You want people to know what your video is about just by looking at the thumbnail.

PewDiePie --- the biggest YouTuber of all time --- has a video on how to design good thumbnails:​

Most people underestimate this part of being a vlogger.

It’s a really good idea to learn the basics of Photoshop if you want to do things yourself from the beginning, which is most likely the case because you don’t usually start with a budget to pay a designer.

​"I don't think I would be as big on YouTube if I didn't know how to use Photoshop"

Felix 'PewDiePie' Kjellberg // Most Subscribed YouTuber of All Time

I’m sure you’re beginning to understand why we see so many titles like these.

You can create awesome thumbnails with just a little knowledge of this tool.

​Which thumbnail ​​would you click​? Top or bottom:

The objective of your thumbnails is to stand out from the rest. You want to use colors that are more attractive and that contrast with YouTube’s layout.

Green, orange, blue and yellow are pretty uncommon colors and they contrast with the red, black and white that YouTube use on their layout. If you use them in your thumbnails, it will help you stand out.

Also, you really want to write really short and clear copy on your thumbnail.

You can also try using around 3 layers of objects in your thumbnail.

For example,

First layer: attractive background using attractive colors

Second layer: yourself standing out from the background. You can use shadows or strokes to help you stand out. You could also instead use an object related to the subject of your video

Third Layer: a clear and extremely short copy. It can be the same title of the video if it’s short enough, or simply any other words that can help attract you clicks.

​After years of creating content and competing with various games, he was ​one of the first to play ​a new and he became one of its first best players.

​When the game gained popularity, so did his channel​.

By recording your vlogs around a specific subject, you will also be able to attract subscribers more easily.

Still, more views do not mean more subscribers 100% of the time, and vice versa. Some channels have a terrible conversion rate from views to subs or a terrible conversion from subs to views

But YouTube channels that are targeted at a specific interest tend to get good conversions and a steady growth --- If there’s a decent amount of people that like the subject.

​Because by niching down you will be able to attract people with the same particular interest and that are passionate enough to learn more about it.

​It's more probable that they come back to watch your next video. After all, they love the activity you’re doing.

For example, the channel The Infographic Show is aimed at people that love infographics and learning about new interesting stuff. And that’s all the channel does.

This is what I mean by Targeting the Geek: target people that LOVE something very specific.

Targeting the geeks of your niche will allow you to gather dedicated, highly interested people in what you have to show.

Some examples of niches are:

Low-budget travel vlogging

​United Kingdom Football

Japanese-themed videogames.

With how competitive YouTube is nowadays, you should probably go with very narrow niches and grow up from there.

That is why it’s really important to start with something you’re deeply interested ​in. It’s all about loving to record videos about it all the time.

After a while, you can start creating videos for other “shoulder” niches. Since your subs will ​have a connection with you already, you will be able to make them interested in new topics. And with that you will gain new subs that love that new subject.

This is probably the most methodical way of growing a vlogging channel.

He ​created a really good niche in Game​play videos and made his videos really entertaining with his reactions and commentary.

After a few years, he now basically just do what he wants with his channel. He does a lot of different things from reviewing funny memes, to doing serious book reviews.

And he is still growing and gets millions of views per video, even though he rarely plays videogames anymore.

After you grow up a following, you can start doing a lot of different things and people will still like you and support you.

Take advantage of your ​analytics

Since YouTube is as interested as you to grow your channel ---they also earn money from the ads shown in your videos, they will show you analytics and reports about the demographics and performance of your channel.

With this tool, you will be able to know the age, region and even the interests of your viewers. This will help you narrow even more your videos to target that specific audience you’re attracting.

You will also be able to know extremely specific information in each of your videos; for example, the minute in which people started leaving your video --- don’t worry if you see people leaving after the first few seconds, this is completely normal. But this information can be extremely helpful.

How does this information help?

Let’s say you have 5 videos where people start leaving after the first 2 minutes, but then you publish a new video where people started leaving after 2:30 minutes. That’s when you ask yourself: what’s different in this video that made people stay for longer? Maybe it was a funny segment or a quick change of pace.

Once you discover it, you can start replicating it for your following videos so you can start improving your retention time overall.

These are things all the top Youtubers are aware of and try to improve upon.

Create long playlists about the same subject​

​One thing that has been found to work really well for YouTube is creating a video series covering a particular subject.

For example, let’s say you’re a history vlogger. You can dedicate one entire 10-video series to Egypt history and then group them together in a single playlist.

This won’t only organize your channel, but it will make it easier for people looking to learn more about the same subject.

If they’re really interested in that subject, they might end up watching the entire 10-video series!

And that would be a good thing to increase your rankings with Youtube's algorithm.

You can also combine Targeting the Geek with playlists. ​Do it like you’re targeting a different type of geek with each playlist.

Just try to keep everything under a general interest.

There’s probably no better way of making people watch more of your videos than this.

Or you could also do like most YouTubers and get a Ring Light: they are cheap, easy to carry, simple to use and provide great lighting for your face.

Tripod/Selfie stick

If you’re recording with your smartphone, you probably need a selfie stick to get the camera away from your face and give you more stability --- it is also safer since you won’t drop the phone so easily.

If you’re using a compact camera or a DSLR, you can use a mini-tripod to hold them --- as long as your camera can use a tripod.

If not, you will need a selfie stick for compact cameras.

And if you’re recording from home, you will need a tall tripod to let the camera rest while you record.

Editing Software

As a vlogger, you will most likely spend more time editing a video than recording it. But it will depend on the kind of content you record.

Some vloggers are done with their editing in 20 minutes, but that’s just because they ​only need to cut some scenes and put everything together.

But things start to get more complicated when you want to increase the quality by adding text, animated scenes and cool effects.

​You can easily spend several hours editing just one video ​this way.

You really have to ask yourself: do I have the time available to do all this editing work?

You could instead hire an editor, but they are not cheap so you will need good budget for it.

You will probably do better with simple editing, at least for as long as you have no budget.

If you want to do some simple editing, you have available some free editing software that will work just fine.

Free Editors for Simple ​Vlogs

For simple editing you can use​ the two apps that ​are available for Windows ​and ​macOS users. They will allow you to do the most basic of editing: cutting and pasting different clips to put together a video blog.

Adobe Premiere: The most popular software between vloggers is probably Adobe Premiere, and it’s not exactly cheap, and that’s because it’s targeted at professional editors. The price starts around $20,99 per month if you pay the year at once.

Final Cut Pro: The other nice option if you are on MAC is Final Cut Pro. It is also a professional-level software that is available for a one-time payment of $299.99

​FINAL CHAPTER

​PROMOTION AND MONETIZATION

Even though the quality of your content is the most important thing you have to worry about. There are more things you should know about.

If you want people to find your content, you will also have to promote it. The more places you cover, the better chances you have of being discovered.

However, treat these as secondary aspects of your video blogs. Remember that your content value is a lot more important, since in the end YouTube itself will bring you more views through their algorithm.

1. Create social media accounts.

Sometimes it’s not the best idea to start with all the social channels available.

Try starting with one or two social media accounts because it becomes harder to focus on so many at the same time.

And also, not all social media platforms are good for a YouTube channel.

Try starting with one or two social media accounts because it becomes harder to focus on so many at the same time.

And also, not all social media platforms are good for a YouTube channel.